Loading…
Some kids need a faster pace and a deeper challenge to stay engaged. Washington calls these students "highly capable," and the law calls accelerated learning part of their basic education. Anyone can refer a student — parent, teacher, family friend — and the team uses multiple measures so no one good test day or bad test day decides the answer.
Student Services / Highly Capable (HiCap) · Accelerated Learning · Always Free
Some kids need a faster pace and a deeper challenge to stay engaged. Washington calls these students "highly capable," and the law calls accelerated learning part of their basic education. Anyone can refer a student — parent, teacher, family friend — and the team uses multiple measures so no one good test day or bad test day decides the answer.
Washington's Highly Capable program is established under RCW 28A.185, with program rules in WAC 392-170. The legislature's framing is unusually direct: for students who can move faster than the regular pace allows, "access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction" is part of basic education — not extra, not optional.
The state defines highly capable students as those who "perform or show potential for performing at significantly advanced academic levels when compared with others of their age, experiences, or environments." That can show up as general intellectual ability, strong skills in a specific subject, or unusually creative thinking inside a domain. OSPI's full guidance is on the Highly Capable Program page.
Anyone who knows a student can refer them — a parent or guardian, a teacher, a relative, a community member, the student themselves. The program serves grades K–12 in Washington; in Montesano, identification work focuses on grades 2 through 6, with services continuing as identified students move into MJSHS.
The legislature has emphasized equitable identification: districts have to actively look for highly capable students who have historically been under-identified — kids receiving services through an IEP or 504, multilingual learners, and students from lower-income or otherwise underserved backgrounds. Multiple measures and universal screening exist precisely to keep us from missing kids whose ability gets masked by other factors.
The annual referral window opens each fall. The 2025–26 timeline is:
Forms — both English and Spanish, paper or online — are available from the school office or by emailing Julie Aldrich, our HiCap program coordinator. If your student transfers in outside the regular window, we can evaluate them then; just call.
Washington requires districts to universally screen all students at least twice — once at or before second grade, and once at or before sixth grade. In Montesano, two automatic referrals come out of universal screening:
Automatic referral doesn't mean automatic placement — the same evaluation process applies. It just means we don't miss those students.
The team uses multiple objective measures, not a single test cutoff. That typically includes:
The team weighs all of it together. Eligibility is a judgment about the whole picture, not a percentile cutoff applied to one number.
Services depend on the grade and the student. At the elementary level, services usually involve enriched and accelerated instruction inside the regular classroom, with subject- or grade-level acceleration when it makes sense. At MJSHS, identified students access advanced, honors, and dual-credit options — Running Start, College in the High School, AP, and CTE acceleration where appropriate. The shape is decided in conversation with families and teachers, not by a fixed program track.
Students currently enrolled in HiCap don't retest each year — eligibility carries forward. If your child is identified in second grade, they stay identified through their Montesano career. The team reviews services annually to make sure they still fit, but the status itself is durable.
If your student isn't identified and you think they should be, you can ask for a review of the decision in writing. The review goes to a team that didn't make the original call. Bring any new evidence — outside assessments, portfolios, observations the team didn't see. We'd much rather take another look than have a kid go unserved because of a paperwork miss.
When Washington updated WAC 392-170 in 2023, the legislature was explicit: districts must prioritize equitable identification. That language sits inside our process. If you're from a community that hasn't historically been well-represented in HiCap programs — multilingual families, IEP/504 families, low-income families — please don't self-screen out. Refer your child. The team is built to look for kids who've been overlooked, and we'd rather evaluate and learn than miss someone.
Is HiCap the same as gifted? It's the same idea. Washington uses "highly capable" in statute; many other states use "gifted and talented." Same population, different label.
Does my child have to be advanced in everything? No. State law explicitly recognizes specific academic ability — a student exceptionally strong in math can qualify for math-specific acceleration even if other subjects are at grade level.
Can my child have an IEP and be highly capable? Yes. They're separate processes that often run alongside each other (sometimes called "twice-exceptional" or 2e). If your student has an IEP and you suspect advanced ability, refer them — both teams should know.
Will my child be pulled out of class? Most HiCap services in elementary happen inside the regular classroom through enriched instruction and subject acceleration. Some pull-out happens for specific projects or to cluster identified students for a particular skill. At MJSHS, the model shifts to course selection — advanced, honors, AP, dual credit.
Julie Aldrich, Highly Capable Program Coordinator jaldrich@monteschools.org (360) 249-4331
For questions outside the referral window, or if a student moves into the district mid-year.
(360) 249-1233